


Springtime Yellow

by FlyingTies



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: A LOT of Angst, Blind Frisk, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Frisk, It will make sense later, Maybe Implied Sinning, Multi, Mute Frisk, No Sinning Here, Original Character is Female and Identifies as Such, POV Third Person, Post-Pacifist Route (Undertale), Selectively Mute Frisk, Slow To Update, Slow-ish burn, Undertale Spoilers, also angst, but probably not, lots of fluff, sorry about that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-18 01:00:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 15,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5892055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyingTies/pseuds/FlyingTies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It looked off. Nothing about it seemed normal. There seemed to be several things off. It didn't look right. Too big. Too bright. Too, too.</p><p>Too broken to even hide.</p><p>------</p><p>Ava Wells is smart, quick witted, short, and nimble. Which is what makes her great in MMA. She's not a professional by any extent of the term, but it doesn't really bother her much. She doesn't like it, at all. But it puts food on the table and a roof over her head. She doesn't like it, she's a lover, not a fighter.</p><p>So it comes to no surprise that when the barrier breaks open, that she's all for Monster kind.</p><p>It comes to no surprise that she is more than willing to break her own rules to save one from a large group of men.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Till We Grow Older

**Author's Note:**

> My first work here. And It's Undertale. Feedback would be great, it's a big self-esteem boost.
> 
> I will say this though, updates are horribly sporadic, and I'm sorry in advance.
> 
> Once again, feedback is radical.

# Springtime Yellow

### Chapter 1: Till We Grow Older

It never surprised her how horrible Humans could be. ' _They can't even tolerate **each** **other**. And now Monsters,_ ' she thought to herself. ' _They have no idea what they've gotten themselves into, do they?_ ' She looked around the waiting room. A majority of those waiting were monsters. It was horrible. She looked towards the monster couple with the arm-less kid. The kid looked so upset, he kept saying how mean they were to him, and when he turned his head a bit, she could see the black eye and the cut under it that looked like it needed stitches.

To say she was pissed was an understatement. She started to clench her knuckles at the thought of a little kid going through that severe bullying, but quickly stopped when a sharp pain erupted through her hand. She felt horrible for them. They came expecting so much more than this, and all they got in return were beatings. Nobody deserves what they're going through. She was frustrated. She hung her head low, wanting so bad to put her hands into her coat pockets, but, alas. Her knuckles were too deep of a purple to do that. Occupational hazard, at least, that's what she kept telling her doctor.

The little kid seemed to notice her, and, at first, he looked terrified. She didn't blame him. Her knuckles were badly bruised, left wrist sprained, a nose that had been broken so many times, it was permanently crooked, and a fading, almost gone and fully healed, black eye. She completely understood the kid's fear. But she was surprised when the kid came running up to her against his parents' wishes. She was surprised when he started talking to her.

His first question was a little rude, but what he said after that, it made her heart melt and burn with fury at the same time, "Yo! Why is your face like that? Di- Did they get to you too?"

' _This poor kid,_ ' she thought. "No, not exactly." she was hoping to end it there, but he was curious, and his bright eyes made her heart melt again. "I, I actually do this for a living."

The whole room went quiet, at least, the monsters in the room. She started to sweat a bit. His next question, "You get paid to be beat up? Sounds horrible."

She laughed a bit at that, "While I can't say you're wrong, but that's not all I do," She straightened up a bit, getting ready to explain, "I don't  _just_  get beaten up. I actually fight people and beat them up too." When she put it like that, it sounded even worse. She quickly added, "It's called MMA fighting. MMA means Mixed Martial Arts, it's considered a sport. And in MMA, at least, the division I'm in, I fight other women in an octagon shaped ring called, well, The Octagon." She was rambling at this point. And the more she talked, the bigger the kid's eyes grew.

"That's so cool!" He shouted. "Man, You're almost as cool as Undyne! And she's the coolest person ever!" She giggled at his enthusiasm. She decided to take that as a complement.

"You know," she started, "you might need to introduce me to her. She sounds pretty awesome." His eyes look like they're about to burst out of his skull from excitement.

"Ava," A nurse, Jackie, if she can remember right, called her name. The nurse looked at Ava, "Dr. Sirabi is ready for you."

Ava smiled at the nurse and awkwardly patted the kid on the head, "See you later, kiddo." She stood up and made her way to the door on her right. She knocked on the door closest to the one she just walked through and was met with a soft voice telling her to, 'come on in'.

She opened the door and walked in, "Hey, Dr. Sirabi."

"Again Ava? This is the second time this week."

"It's a living, right? An occupational hazard." She sat down on one of the chairs in the little examination room.

"I know how much you hate it."

"It puts food on the table."

Dr. Sirabi huffed in defeat. Ava was stubborn and Sirabi knew she wouldn't listen. Or the heavy amount of risks she'd read off to her. Ava was stubborn, and Sirabi hated it.

The aging woman sighed at Ava. "All I can do is tell you not to fight and get a splint for your wrist. Do you need a refill?"

"Nope, I still have some from last time."

"As you should. Have you been icing those knuckles of yours?"

"Not really, it's more of a when I have spare time kind of thing."

"Keep icing them. You are going to listen to the no fighting rule?" More of a question than a statement.

"Sirabi," Ava started, but was soon cut off.

""No, don't give me any excuses. Promise me you won't fight. I really don't want to go the other way with and fax him a note myself."

Ava was silent. She looked at Dr. Sirabi. Sirabi was an older woman, hair graying slightly, laugh lines covered her face instead of worry lines, but while her face showed no sign of worry, her eyes did. Her eyes always did. "Alight. I won't. I won't fight, but only for you."

Dr Sirabi smiled, "Just remember to ice those knuckles, Tell Jackie that you need a splint, she'll get you one."

"Alright, I will." Ava agreed to any other demands the doctor made, but with no intention of following them. Rent was due soon, and she was one-hundred short. She thanked the doctor as they hugged goodbye. 

Ave left. And as soon as she did, Dr. Sirabi immediately went to writing a note for her manager. Dr. Sirabi knew Ava. She was like a daughter to the doctor, so it comes to no surprise that she managed to slip a check into her coat pocket when they hugged. Some would call that unprofessional, but she would simply say, 'Anything to help her, she's a daughter to me.' She faxed the note and called in her next patient. ' _Ava's always been stubborn_ ,' she thought, ' _but so am I_.' 

 

\-----

 

Ava walked out and told the Nurse what Sirabi had said. The nurse nodded and went off to go get one. Ava sat down in the waiting room again. Looking around, she saw the kid from earlier, this time though, he was terrified. Not of her, but of the kid in the corner smiling at him like he was about to have a bad time. Again. Ava, sensing what was about to happen, immediately stood up and sat down next to the arm-less monster, "Is he the one that did that to you?"

The kid looked up at her and nodded fearfully, "And a few of his friends. I didn't do anything to them! I promise! I just wanted to play a game with my friend!"

 Ava shuddered, "It's okay. I'm not mad at you." Ava looked towards the kid's parents, who were at the counter filling out forms, and told him, "If this happens again, I want you to tell either me, okay? I'm usually here once a week. And If I'm not here," she grabbed a pen out of her coat pocket, "text this number. Or call, it doesn't matter. Okay?" She quickly scribbled her name and number on his arm.

He looked at her and nodded quickly. "Alright squirt, I gotta go. Stick close to your parents, okay?" he quickly nodded again. 

She got up and took one last look at the kid before leaving the Clinic and setting out for home. She was about to walk through the door, before the nurse caught up to her and gave her the splint she was looking for. Ava thanked her and set off into rain.

 

\-----

 

Ava didn't like hand-outs. She hated pity. But she's also not an idiot. So when she discovered the envelope in her pen-less pocket, she figured out that her Doctor had written and faxed over a note to her manager. At first, she let her pride get in the way, and didn't open it. But after realizing it wouldn't help her out any to leave it there, she opened it. Inside was enough for the missing rent and, with the leftovers, she could buy some groceries as well. She decided to thank Dr. Sirabi later, probably next time she came in, which was most likely going to be next week.

She couldn't help but to think of that kid, and how the name 'Undyne' seemed so familiar. She could've sworn she had heard the name before, but couldn't remember when, or where for that matter. ' _Did I hear it on the_ _circuit_?' She opened the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water. ' _Nah,_ ' she thought, ' _I would have remembered it._ '

Ava decided that she might as well follows the doctor's orders and ice her knuckles. She'd put on the splint before she went to bed. Then tomorrow, she would figure out what to do with her new found free time.


	2. Chapter 2: Asking For It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The true story begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to rewrite this several times. Either way, here you go!
> 
> I did notice a small continuity error last chapter. Feel free to mock me later.

### Chapter 2: Asking for It

Ava woke the next morning feeling sore, but somehow fully refreshed. She went through her daily routine, wake up, make coffee, shower, get dressed, wait for coffee to finish, pour coffee, add a pint of creamer, wait for it to cool down a bit more, drink said coffee, and on a regular day, which this is not, she would head down to the gym with Andy, her manager. But, as hinted at before, this isn't a normal day.

Andy called her about the note, saying he was disappointed that she lied to him and said she was good to fight, the note said three weeks, and ended with him saying to take it easy, watch some TV, catch up on any shows she had liked and missed, and no more gym time until she was cleared for it.

Andy took these things very seriously.

So, for now, she was out of a job, injured, and somewhat broke. She couldn't even take out her frustrations on the punching bags in the gym. She groaned loudly and lightly slammed her head on the counter. Trying to avoid yet _**another**_ injury.

She finished her coffee and got up to get another. She was in for a long day of doing damn near nothing. She grabbed about two handfuls of ice and put them in a zip-lock bag, before heading out to her couch to watch a bit of TV.

\----------------------  


It was black. There was no light. There was nothing. It _was_ nothing. It was empty, so empty. And cold, so very cold. She knew what this was. She's known what this place was for a long time. She hated this place. She has always hated this place. She felt the familiar pull, trying to calm her. Whispers saying to give up. To let them take her away. She fought and fought, but for nothing.

' _It's always been for nothing_ ', the Whispers said. Still, she fought to get away, to get out of the suffocating darkness

It didn't work.

Ava knew this place very well, it was a place a nothingness. Of constant darkness. Of nightmares. Of no hope.

She didn't know what to call it, but the Whispers were calling it was the void.

She struggled in the emptiness for what had felt like hours. She kept fighting the pull. The whispers laughing at her struggle to hold on, urging her to ' _Give up_ ,' and ' _Let us take the pain away._ '

She was getting tired. She was ready to give up.

She let go.

Suddenly there was something, no, some one else there. She could feel the soul pulling at her own.

Whoever it was made the Whispers stop, they made the pain go away. Whoever it was grabbed her by her waist, and forcibly started pushing her away and out of the void.

She could have sworn that strange person was saying something about her not belonging here.

She thought they had told her to, “Find me. Promise.”

She thought that their hands were just, _bone_.

\----------------------

 

Ava bolted upright, panting heavily. She looked around frantically, trying desperately to calm her breathing. She didn't know what happened. There were only four things she was certain of at that moment.

One: She was in her apartment.

Two: She was on her couch in the living room.

Three: She had fallen asleep watching a bunch ofold men bicker about the state of the country and how Monsters were affecting the economy.

And four: She needed to take a trip to Mt. Ebott. Now.

She stood up a little too quickly, and knocked over the 'now just water' ice pack, causing it's contents to spill all over the floor, soaking into the carpet.

“Dammit,” she grumbled, walking toward the hallway closet for a towel. She grabbed the first one she saw, and quickly walked back to the spill. She immediately got on her hands and knees to soak up as much of the water as she could. When she was certain that the rest of the water would air dry on its own, she balled up the towel and put it inside the hamper in her bathroom. She went into her room and started packing. She never knew how long she'd be there, so she always packed for a week. She noticed her hands trembling slightly.

Now, It's fair to say, that whenever she thought of Mt. Ebott, a slight shiver crawled up her spine. It's not so much that she hated it, in some places it was absolutely beautiful. But, the thought of the mountain, something felt, off, to her. Even after the barrier was shattered, that feeling was still there. The daunting sense dread, thinking about it almost made her take a rain-check on going. But she had a promise to keep. She had somebody to find.

She was never really successful. She never let her failure deter her from trying again. She was never one to give up so easily.

She finished filling her bag with clothes, put that month's rent into an envelope, and left a voice mail on Andy's phone. She put on her hiking boots and weather resistant jacket. She grabbed her duffel bag and bolted out the door. Leaving her phone behind on the counter.

And that event, right there on the counter, buzzing away, is the true start of the story. Because had Ava remembered to grab her phone, she wouldn't have had to turn around halfway to the mountain to grab it. She wouldn't have had to waste four hours of her time driving back home.

But she did leave it there. She did have to drive back to get it.

She did pass by a group of three men in an alley tormenting a large skeletal monster on her way inside.

She did decide to do something about it.

The men circled the monster on the ground, taking turns beating the poor thing. Ava looked down at her hands and mentally apologized to Dr. Sirabi, and herself.

She grabbed the shoulder of the man nearest to her, and turned him around, “What the? Who are you?” he said, looking confused, and was soon met with a sharp right hook that fractured his nose. A swift upper cut to the jaw, breaking that too, sent him on the ground unconscious. ' _Rule number one_ ,' she reminded herself. ' _Fight in the octagon only_.' She looked back at her hands and winced, sharp pains growing around her sprained wrist. ' _Can't really use these now_.'

The other two seemed to notice her immediately, both of them approaching her. The first one grabbed her collar, shouting curses and threats, bad decision. ' _Rule number two,_ ' she harshly kneed him in the groin, ' _fight fair,_ _no cheap shots._ ' The man let her go and quickly doubled over in pain. The next guy, well, he ran at some point in time. Ava looked towards the monster, he looked like he was still alive.

But the man that earlier had a tight grip on her coat collar, managed to collect himself.

To say he was pissed was an understatement. “Listen, you little bitch,” he started.

She never let him finish. She gave him a sharp kick in the gut, making him sprawl out on the ground, groaning in pain. ' _Rule number three_ ,' she thought while staring down at the piece of human trash, ' _be the better fighter, show_ _some_ _mercy_.' When he showed no signs of getting up, she knelt next to the monster.

She snapped a few times in his, skull? He didn't respond. She pulled him up, hoping he wasn't dead. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he groaned.

“Hey, hey! You'll be okay.”

“Don-Don't hurt me, human,” he whined out in response.

“I have no intentions of doing that. Come on, let's get you somewhere safe.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's short, I know. But this is the shortest it will get. I promise.

### Chapter 3: The Light

”Come on, just a bit farther,” Ava panted, trying, without success, to keep the lanky skeleton form drifting off into unconsciousness.

She made it up the flight of stairs. She struggled slightly opening the door to her apartment. She finally managed to open the door slightly after roughly five minutes of trial and error. She roughly kicked the door open the rest of the way and hurried him inside. She put him on the couch and hurried to grab an ice pack from the freezer. Wrapping the pack in a dish towel, she placed the bundle on his forehead. She noticed a slight cloud of dust that rose into the air as she did so. She looked at him, a faint, almost unnoticeable, flickering orange glow barely filled her vision.

She grabbed her phone from the counter on her way to the closet for a blanket.

She was glad she had Dr. Sirabi on speed dial, but she wasn't sure she'd be able to help. Ava knew what this was. She knew how bad this was. A loud, bubbly ringtone chirped, Ava instantly looked at her phone, but it wasn't hers. ' _Must be his_.'

She walked over to the skeleton and searched his pockets carefully, trying to not damage him further. She found it, took it, and covered him with a blanket, tucking him in as well.

She looked down at the little flip phone, very similar to hers, and looked at the caller ID: _Sans_. Maybe his brother.

She flipped the phone open and put the speaker to her ear, almost instantly regretting her decision.

“ _ **Where are you!?”** _ 'Sans' shouted. “ _ **Why haven't you answered any calls or texts!? You're usually better than this Pap!**_ ”

' _Pap? Must be short for something else._ ' Ava swallowed, unsure of how to explain the situation. “Uh-”

“ _ **No! I don't want excuses. Where are you**?_ ” His voice was low, his tone made her uneasy.

She mustered up all of her courage, “Pap is unable to come to the phone right now. He's in pretty bad shape.”

' _Gee, way to be blunt, Ava._ '

The line went dead silent, she almost thought he hung up before he spoke again. His voice was even lower than before, “ _ **Who. Are. You.**_ ” he demanded.

“Should have started with that,” she chuckled trying to ease the tension. “My name is Ava.”

“ _ **Where is my brother** **?**_ ” he asked slowly.

“In my apartment, I can give you my address, but he's in no shape to go anywhere.”

His deadly tone dropped, “ _ **Wha- What do you mean?**_ ”

“It's a long story, I can tell you when you get here.” She slowly read off her address so he could write it down. She was tempted to call Dr. Sirabi, but, once again, she knew Sirabi could only fix the physical damage, which wasn't much, not the entirety of the problem.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when a loud knock came from her door. She threw the door open, to see another skeleton. Shorter than the other one, but definitely taller that her five foot frame. He wore a blue hoodie, and what seemed to be a permanent smile. He looked down at her, his pupils seemed to dim, and almost fade out. Then he looked over at the skeleton on the couch. His smile dropping a bit.

“I take it you're Sans? He's your brother, right? Come in.” She stepped aside, letting him in.

He walked to the center of the living room, his eyes never leaving the couch, “You said he was in bad shape,” he swallowed, his voice getting smaller, “how bad are you talking?”

Ava slowly walked to Pap and took the ice pack off of his forehead. She showed Sans the dust covered bottom. He took it from her harshly, “I- I should have never let him go out alone. I'm,” he paused getting choked up, clutching the pack tight to his chest. “I'm his big brother, dammit! I should have known better. Papyrus,” He looked toward his brother, “I'm so sorry.”

Ava gently took the pack from him and put it back on the younger skeleton's head. “What can I do to help?”

Sans looked at her with a confused look, “Why do you want to help?”

“Why wouldn't I help?”

Sans was quiet for a while, his eyes locked onto her, searching for something. Ava was doing the same, following a slight cyan haze. When Sans seemed satisfied, he moved toward his brother. “Look, I can tell you mean no harm, but we don't need your help. This isn't your problem. I want, I will take him home.”

“He is in no condition to go anywhere. He could,” She paused, trying, and failing, to find the right words, “you know.”

“Go on, say it.”

Ava huffed. “He could die. If something goes even slightly wrong, he could die. I know he's your brother and all, but he is no condition to move. Those men did a number on him. And you know it was barely physical.”

Sans was quiet. Ava took that as a win.

“I have an extra room I don't use anymore, you can take that one. I use it mainly for storage, but it's still got a bed.”

“Why?”

“I know you won't leave. I thought you might-”

“No. Why are you so insistent on helping strangers? Monsters even? Isn't that, like, against the 'human' code?”

Ava stared him down, “I'm not the type of person to sit there and watch another person be killed.” She clenched her fists and turned away, ignoring the pain.

She walked to the end of the hall, her shoulder-length, mousey brown hair bouncing as she did. Sans looked from her, to his brother, then to the door at the end of the hall where she was. He took a seat on the end of the couch, near his brother's feet, and thought for a while.

He's never seen a soul like that. It was bigger than most, brighter too. But nothing about it felt right.

She was hiding something. He wanted to find out.

' _You barely know her, idiot._ '

So he sat there, looking over at her bedroom door, not knowing how to apologize to a human woman he barely knew.

Against all better judgment, he took her up on her offer, and as he walked into the room, he was surprised. She said it was storage, but it was empty. Save for a few leather bound binders he assumed to be filled with photos.

' _She's odd,_ ' he thought as he started to fall asleep. ' _Really, really odd._ '

  


  


Ava held her head in her hands, thinking over her recent careless decisions. ' _You don't know them! You're too soft, letting them stay here._ ' Her sprained wrist was hurting again, snapping her back to reality. She looked around her room, and remembered her splint was in the living room. As childish as it was, she didn't want to go back out there until she absolutely had to. She never liked the atmosphere that any type of fight had left behind.

' _He did have a point, you don't know him._ ' But she had know something even better, his soul. She could have sworn she had seen it before. She couldn't remember when, but she had a sinking feeling of where, and she couldn't shake it off.

So, she sat there, figuring out how to apologize to a short, skeletal monster she barely knew.

Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned into hours before she decided to turn in for the night. She turned off her light, and fell into a fitful sleep.


	4. Chapter 4: The Sound Of Silence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of wrote a majority of this while I was super tired, so if there's any mistakes spelling and grammar wise, I'll go back in and fix them.
> 
> Other than that, mentions of physical/emotional child/spousal abuse in the beginning.
> 
> Have fun.

### Chapter 4: The Sound of Silence

  


_She never liked it when they fought. He screamed, Her mother tried talking calmly back at him, he pushed both of them, he tossed things, he threw stuff at her. She wanted to tell somebody, to cry out for help, to plead for his forgiveness._

_But she couldn't._

_They were always angry with each other, she blamed herself. For the fighting._

_For everything._

_She was young, but not too young. Roughly fifteen at the time. She had gone up the mountain to get away from it all, to be alone._

_Where nobody could hurt her._

_It was a cold and windy night. Their fighting had escalated, he beat her, he slapped her mother. She left, broken and battered, to the mountain. She tripped and collapsed to the ground in a crumpled heap halfway up, whispering apologies to nobody. She didn't bother getting up, it hurt too much._

_She started to cry._

_The shadows of the forest surrounded her. There was silence. Dead silence._

_She hated silence._

_She didn't know where she was. She could no longer see anything. Then the silence was broken. She was surrounded by voices. Their words malicious, but familiar. They echoed her thoughts, her feelings._

_They sounded exactly like her._

_They told her to do things. They told her to give up, give in. They told her he was right, about everything. She couldn't handle it. She curled into a fetal position, trying desperately to block them out._

_It didn't work._

_She started sobbing. She called out to somebody, **anybody**._

_At first, there was no reply her desperate pleas for help. But then she felt it. No, she felt him. His soul. It was warm, comforting. He pulled her out of the darkness. She clung to him, like a child, not wanting that feeling to leave. And, eventually, it did. She felt empty. She didn't want to leave the mountain._

_She stayed for hours. She gathered all of her courage before heading back down._

_When she had finally gone down, the fighting had ceased, all the lights were off, and they were, presumably, asleep. She walked into her room, making sure to lock her door, and climbed into her bed. It was a few more hours until she finally fell asleep._

 

* * *

 

  


_It had gotten worse the next day. And the week after that. And then the entire month had gone downhill. At the end of it all, she could have been found on the mountain. Seeking solace and comfort in **his** soul. She was happy there. She felt at home. She felt loved_

_She felt complete._

_A year's time had gone by. She would have been sixteen then. It hadn't gotten better, but his soul was there, offering her comfort and solace._

_Another year, she was seventeen. And his soul, it just--._

_She had climbed the mountain at her absolute worst. The weather was horrible, a blizzard had picked up. Horrible weather on an even worse day. She needed him, now more than ever. She searched and searched. She searched the darkness._

_He wasn't there._

_She called out to him. He didn't reply._

_She screamed for him. He never heard._

_She sobbed his name, falling to the snowy ground on her knees, pleading for him to come back. She didn't want to lose another. Not on today, of all days._

_She sat up there for hours. She shouted herself hoarse. As she sat there, throat raw, eyes red and puffy, she called his name once more. It was a hopeless and hollow sounding noise. It didn't sound like her at all._

_Maybe because she gave up. Maybe she was tired._

  


_Either way,_

  


_**nobody came.**_

  


 

* * *

 

  


Ava woke up the next morning with a headache. It wasn't a pounding one, though she wished it was, it was the dull, slow throbbing kind of headache. The ones that lasted all day. She sighed heavily, and got out of bed. She grabbed her phone, charger, and clothes with her for her shower.

Her headache worsened as she showered. The dull throb was getting stronger and stronger. Her wrist was starting to throb again too. When she was finished and clothed, she went on the hunt for her ibuprofen. She couldn't remember where she had put it last. She pulled open the doors to her medicine cabinet, and looked through the various orange white bottles. It wasn't in there.

She sighed heavily, giving up on her pursuit. She thought about what Sans had said last night, how similar it had sounded to something her mom would have said to her, _“_ The world will eat people like you for breakfast, sweetheart. People like you, like us, we're too nice.” She quoted out loud, “You weren't wrong.” She looked down at her hands. Her mom said they were hands for creation and healing.

 _'Hope'_ , she remembered her mom whisper. She was an amazing woman, her mother, Kind, caring.

If only her mom could see her hands now.

She remembered when she used to draw pictures, crude, as she was only six or seven, but pictures none the less. Her mother loved them all. As Ava grew older, she got even better. She had talent. Then, when she was about seventeen, she stopped.

She quickly shook her head, almost instantly regretting it, as her headache grew in power. She soon had her head in her hands and elbows on the counter. As she rubbed her face, she remembered where she had last seen her painkillers from Sirabi.

On the ground.

After the fight.

“God da-” she was cut off by a loud knock on the bathroom door. She took a breath, “Yeah?”

“Did you die? You've been in there for an hour now,” Sans' voice came through the door.

“Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. I'm just, uh, trying to find my Tylenol.” She opened the door. His face had managed to look grumpy. She gently pushed him aside, “How's he-”

“Getting worse.”

“What do we-”

He interrupted her again, “ _We_ don't do anything. This is _my_ problem. I don't understand why you're so obsessed with helping us.”

She looked back at him, “I thought I told you last night. Or is your skull a little too thick? Anyway, what do _**we**_ do? There has to be some way to reverse the damage.”

“You can see them,” he whispers. “You know.”

“Yes, but that's not what important here,” her face morphing into one of shock.

“You can see the damage. You know,” he repeated himself, his face turning pained.

Ava could see the damage. She couldn't lie, Papyrus's soul was in shambles. It was cracked, severely, in many different places. Chipped in others. The light she could easily guess had been a brilliant orange colour, was dulled. It was a muddy orange. Flickering, too. Ava knew if he made it, the damage would be permanent. He would never recover. Not fully, at least.

Ava's expression softened, “He'll make it. I promise,” she looked him dead in the eye. “And I don't make promises I can't keep.” She walked into the living room with a bit more hope for the younger brother's survival than she had before.

Once more, he was left there while this woman walked away. She was so, determined, to help. But in all honesty, he didn't even know how to fix his baby brother. He looked to his phone, texting the only person he knew that _might_ be able to help.

Sans looked on toward Ava, still trying to figure out the mystery of her own soul. He was dead set on the fact she was hiding something. He'd figure out one way or another. Didn't matter if it was by force, or by gently asking. He always did find out.

It didn't help his curiosity by this feeling of familiarity. 

 


	5. Chapter 5: Say It Ain't So

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Filler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied, this is as short as it gets. It's just shy of 700 words.

### Chapter 5: Say It Ain't So

  


She didn't know what to do. She sat there in front of the younger brother, trying to help him heal, help him live. But she didn't know how. Her mother said her hands were supposed to heal. Why can't they do it now? When somebody needs to be healed?

She took a deep breath in. _'Okay_ ,' she thought, ' _you can do it. You just need to stay calm and collected._ '

She exhaled, ' _I take that back. I don't got this.'_

She looked toward Papyrus' soul. It was a soul she would have loved to see on a different occasion.

And fully healed.

Papyrus hadn't woken up since he was laid on the couch. Which was a problem. She sighed again heavily, seating herself on a small corner of the couch, near his head. She didn't dare touch him, for fear of breaking him. But part of her, a small part, way in the back of her mind, told her to touch the soul.

But she couldn't. She'd break him.

But it's voice in her head was strong, saying that she needed to. So strong, in fact, if it wasn't for a soft knock on the door, she would've done it.

She hopped off the couch and went to the door, questioning who would be here this early. It wouldn't be here manager, he never really decided to drop in for a visit. It was times like this when she wished she had a peephole.

“I got it. You go sit with Paps,” Sans said from behind her.

She jumped in surprise. “Who is it,” she said turning around.

“A good friend of mine.”

Ava huffed, “That's not a good answer.”

“How is that not a good enough answer?”

“Because I would like to know who I'm letting in my apartment.”

Sans stood there waiting for Ava to move. He didn't have a lot a patience. Ava huffed again, moving out of the way as another knock came, slightly louder than the first, but soft all the same. Ava sat back on the corner of the couch as Sans opened the door. He stood to the side to let the visitor in.

She was huge. Not in a weight sense, but height. She was easily 6'3”. She was fluffy, white, and. ' _Part goat_?'

“He's in pretty bad shape, Toriel. Ava's been kind enough to try and help.”

She turned to me and gave me a smile almost as warm as my own mother's. When she spoke, it was soft, but firm, “I want to thank you for your help.”

Ava waved her hand dismissively, “Honestly, it's no trouble.”

Toriel raised an eyebrow, “No trouble?” Ava put her hand down and gave an awkward laugh. She looked back at Sans and whispered something. Ava thought nothing about it and tried looking for Toriel's soul. It was hard to find, but a pale trail of Lilac was all she could see. All she wanted her to see.

Toriel looked back at her and Papyrus, “We can take him home. He'll be safe with us. Thank you so much for your help.”

She was about to protest, to say 'No, you don't understand. I _need_ to fix him,' but she didn't. She couldn't. Looking toward the floor, she got up and moved out of the way so Toriel could grab him.

Toriel carefully picked up Papyrus, “Sans, be a dear and keep that door open. Ava?” Ava looked back up at her, “Thank you. We really do mean it. Especially Sans, though he doesn't show it too well.”

Ava nodded, “Just, tell me when he gets better?”

Toriel smiled, “Of course.” She walked out.

And like just like that, they were gone. Ava was alone.

And it was quiet.

  


  


_Quiet. Everything was quiet. The blizzard had stopped and it was calm. There was a light snowfall. It was quiet. She wished it wasn't. She wished there was something. She wished for the other shoe to fall. She wished for noise, for the shouting, for the violence. She wished for something instead of the silence. But it didn't happen. It was quiet._

_And she was afraid of it._


	6. Chapter 6: Fences

### Chapter 6: Fences

  


Ava picked up her phone. She almost called Sirabi, but decided against it. She shoved the phone in her pocket with her keys and wallet. Deciding that walking would be a great idea, she grabbed her jacket and double checked that she had everything. She closed the door behind her and locked the deadbolt.

It had been a week and a half since Toriel and Sans had left, but she hadn't heard anything. She was getting antsy. She didn't want to sit around and wait anymore. But, on the only upside, her wrist was almost good as new and her knuckles weren't bruised anymore. But she still couldn't fight, not for another week.

But Sirabi had said nothing about the gym.

She had walked to the gym closest to her apartment. As soon as she opened the door, the strong odor of blood, sweat, and feet wafted in her face. It was a familiar smell, one she never really liked (not that anyone would), but familiar all the same. She walked in and quickly put her hair up in a small and messy pony. It wasn't long before she made her way to the back of the tiny gym, where the punching bags were. She was planning a routine in her head when she heard a sudden sweeping silence. The usual loud hum of the gym patrons was was replaced with silence. Everyone was staring at her.

She felt a blush crawl down her back. News traveled fast.

There were hateful whispers. There were spiteful glares. She ignored them as best as she could. She blocked out a vast majority of them, but clenched her fists at the more nasty ones: “Traitor,” “Monster-fucker,” “Whore,” and her personal favorite: “How could she betray her own kind like that?”

Her knuckles turned white. News traveled fast.

She turned to leave, the glares following her back out the door. And a loud “Good riddance, fucking whore,” caused her to stop in the middle of her stride. She straightened up, cracked her neck, and walked out. She took a deep, shaky breath. She rolled her wrists and cracked her knuckles before continuing down the sidewalk. She wasn't really looking where she was going, she just needed to walk.

She had a really bad habit of that: not looking where she was walking. It was a habit of hers since she was a kid. She had never really bumped into anybody before. But this time she did. She never saw the short yellow dinosaur walking straight for her, her arms full of books. They collided, the books clattered to the ground, one landing in a puddle that had formed, a soft 'oof' coming from the dinosaur, and a soft grunt coming from Ava.

The dinosaur was immediately on her knees, picking up her books. “I-I'm s-so sorry. I w-wasn't p-paying a-a-attention.”

Ava vigorously shook her head, “No, no, no. Don't be sorry. I never really look where I'm going,” She, too, was on her knees collecting the books. “It's a really bad habit of mine. Here,” she handed the lizard her books, “I'm the one who should be sorry, not you.”

A crowd started to form.

The Dinosaur got up, “No, r-really. I-It's my f-fault.”

Ava picked up the last book, the one that had fallen into the puddle. “No. I'm the one who should be sorry, I ruined your book.”

“ALPHYS!” someone had shouted from down the street.

The crowd grew even larger.

“O-over Here, U-Undyne.”

 _'So **that's** where I heard Undyne from._ ' Ava's expression turned into shock, “Wait, you're Dr. Alphys?”

She nodded, slightly embarresed. Undyne had finally walked into view.

Ava messed with here pony, “I feel even worse.”

“Yeah you should, punk!” Undyne grabbed Ava by her shirt collar.

“U-Undyne!”

Undyne's grip on Ava's shirt grew tighter and Ava had to fight all of her instincts to not throw the giant fish on the ground. “I really suggest you let go of me,” Ava whispered.

“Why?” Undyne snarled.

“Because we're attracting a crowd. And violence is not a way to show anybody that you don't mean any harm.”

Undyne looked up, at this point, a very large crowd had formed. Some were even recording the encounter. She swallowed and let go of Ava. “Sorry, I got a little carried away,” She wrapped an arm around Alphys, “I'm just, super protective of Alphys.”

Ava smiled warmly, already forgiving Undyne, “I'd be the same way if the situation were reversed. I'm just glad it was me and not someone else.” The crowd started to disperse.

“Why is that?” Undyne asked

“Y-yeah,” Alphys also asked, clearly confused.

Ava looked at the rest of the crowd, “They wouldn't have taken it as well as I did. They'd be outraged, panicked, and use this as more fuel for the Anti-Monster campaign. Bad news is, they will still put those videos up. Even without the full story.”

“Oh,” Undyne said, her eyes widening. “I'm sorry, erm, what was your name?”

“My name is Ava.”

“A-Ava? U-Undyne? Didn't T-Toriel say s-something about a-an A-Ava?”

“No way! She did! So you're the punk who saved Papyrus!”

Ava blushed, “Y-yeah. If you want to look at it like that.”

“S-so it w-was probably a g-good thing Undyne p-put you down then, huh?”

Ava rubbed the back of her neck and blushed even deeper. There was a small silence. Ava was the first to speak up, “So, how is Papyrus doing? Please tell me he's getting better.”

Neither one of them spoke.

“Listen, Ava,” Undyne said. “We've, uh, gotta go.”

Alphys looked up at her, “U-Undyne?”

“We'll, uh, see you around, Ava!”

They left. Ava watched them as they did. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach. She hurried home. She had just closed the door behind her when she sank to the ground, hugged her knees, and cried.

She felt like it was her fault.

  


  


_The procession was short, it was cold, and the weather was getting worse; nobody had wanted to be out for this. Not many had come. But she understood; they weren't a popular family. She had lost the two most important people to her. She could barely control her thoughts._

_She had been told over and over it wasn't. But she didn't believe them. She couldn't. She couldn't even keep herself together. It was lowered, she cried. And cried. And cried. Her father said nothing. It didn't help._

_She felt like it was her fault._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I actually uploaded. Sorry about the wait, I don't have any valid excuses other than work. Sorry.


	7. Chapter 7: Helpless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit. Two updates? Within four hours? Wow. I'm impressed with myself.

### Chapter 7: Helpless

 

It had been two more days since she met Alphys and Undyne. She couldn't help but to think of Papyrus. She knew, deep down, that she could have done something. She knew it.

She had just come home from doing a bit of grocery shopping. She had just set down the bags she had in her hands, when her phone buzzed in her pocket. She eagerly pulled it out, thinking it might finally be something to do with Papyrus.

It wasn't.

Instead it was her manager, Andy, that had texted her.

_Andy: So, I have an idea. And you won't really like it._

_Ava: Why won't I like it?_

_Andy: It would involve taking you out of the circuit._

Ava looked at her phone screen. She called him. “What do you mean?”

“ _ **Ava, calm down. I just need you to listen.**_ ” Andy's smooth voice came from the other end.

“I don't think you understand! I need this money, Andy.”

“ _ **I know you do, Ava. I do. But word gets around fast Ava. Nobody is gonna want to watch you fight.**_ ”

“But Andy-”

“ _ **No, Ava. I need you to listen. Please.**_ ”

Ava was silent before squeaking out a 'fine'. She started putting what she had bought away.

“ _ **Okay. So I have a few new promising fighters. Alright. And I need somebody to train them to fight. And you know I'm not very good at teaching this sort of thing.**_ ”

“So you want me to do it for you?”

“ _ **Yes. And it's an even better arrangement than what we had previously.**_ _ **Instead of you getting whenever you win a fight, you get paid per two hours of training.**_ ”

“That sounds like it would be the same amount of money than what I get now.” She said, putting the milk away.

“ _ **I have three new fighters waiting to be trained. All of them will train for four hours a day.**_ ”

“Andy.” She stopped moving.

“ _ **Hush. They'll**_ _ **each**_ _ **train two days a week, so you get a day off in between.**_ ”

“Andy.”

“ _ **Oh my god**_ _ **woman**_ _ **, let me finish,**_ ” he near shouted, tired of being interrupted.

“Andy!”

“ _ **What?**_ ”

“How much?”

“ _ **Ninety**_ _ **every two hours.**_ ”

Ava quickly did the math in her head, “Andy that's-”

“ _ **I know. Trust me I know. But you're one of the best fighters in our circuit. You win almost every match. If you train them, We'll make enough to pay them, and you.**_ ”

“Andy, that's almost way too much. I'm not worth that much.” Ava insisted.

“ _ **You're the best I know.**_ ”

“But almost _eleven_ _-hundred_.”

“ _ **I know.**_ ”

“A _week_?!”

“ _ **I know.**_ ”

Ava sighed, trying to wrap her head around the situation. “What if they don't win?”

“ _ **Ava, you'll be training them. They'll win. You're the only one I trust with this job, Ava. The only one.**_ ”

She sighed again, “When do I start?”

“ _ **Next week, when Sirabi clears you for work again. And speaking of hospital visits, as a trainer, there will be less of those. It's an awesome upside.**_ ”

Ava laughed a little, “Thanks Andy. I really appreciate this.”

“ _ **I know you do. Listen, I gotta go. I'll text you the gym address and times you're working, okay?**_ ”

“Alright, I'll talk to you later.” Ava hung up, and set her phone down. She was glad things started looking up for her, but she still felt awful for not being able to do anymore for Papyrus. That weighed heavily on her shoulders. She felt helpless, and she hated it.

She finished putting her groceries away and went into the bathroom to grab the refill she got from Sirabi a day or two after they left. She took the recommended two, and tried going to bed for the night. She tossed and turned, but she couldn't sleep. She couldn't. She threw the blankets off of herself, threw on her shoes and jacket, and went out.

She knew that very few places would be open at this time of night. She just walked, and walked, until she had found a place. Purposely tucked out of view. She walked inside; a tiny bell rang as she opened the door. She looked around, monsters. Everywhere. And they were all looking at her. She smiled a little, and waved. Everyone went back to what they were doing.

She walked up to the counter and took a seat on the stool, and fire monster walked over to her and gave her a menu. She smiled at him, and looked through it. The bell rang again, and the elemental walked away from her.

Whoever had walked through the door sat right next to her, she didn't even notice at first. Ava was too lost in her own thoughts to hear a low, familiar voice call her name. Several times. It wasn't until a boney hand came directly into her field of vision, that she had finally snapped out of her trance-like state.

“Huh?” She asked, turning to the voice.

“What are you doing here, Ava?”

“Oh, hey Sans. Couldn't sleep, I needed to get out of my house. And I stumbled across this place. What about you?”

Sans looked at her closely, “You look like you haven't slept in a couple days, friend.”

Ava gave a tired laugh, “Not gonna say you're wrong.” The elemental came back, “Hey, uh, can I get a beer? It doesn't matter what kind, I'm not too picky.”

Sans also ordered, “The usual for me, and one for her too.”

“You didn't have to get anything for me.”

Sans looked at her, “Well, you saved my brother and I was kind of an ass about it.”

“How is he, by the way? I haven't heard anything- oh thank you,” the fire monster came back with her beer, and Sans's order, “Anyway. I haven't heard anything from anybody.” She took a large gulp of her drink, “It sucks, being in the dark, you know?”

Sans was silent.

“You know, I ran into Alphys and Undyne. Literally, walked right into Alphys, and they did the same thing. Except they said they had to leave.”

“He's still alive,” he said in a low voice. “He's getting better, not much, but we managed to stop any further damage. He's,” Sans swallowed, “He's not dead.”

“Better than the alternative. Is there anything else I can do?” She took another drink.

“How are you able to see souls?” He blurted.

Ava paused, she took another drink, “My mother. She was, an interesting woman.”

“So you inherited the ability from your mother?”

Ava nodded, finishing her drink and signaling for another, “Family gift and whatnot, she'd always tell me.” She could feel the alcohol doing it's magic. “It was different for everyone. But the connection was the ability to see souls. But other than that, everyone had different abilities.” The elemental brought her drink.

“What was your mother's?”

“Uh, I think it was something to do with plant growth.” She took another drink.

“Plants?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Well, what's yours?”

“It's funny, really.” She giggled.

“Why's that?”

“She always, always kept saying: “Those hands were made for healing honey. Healing, and creation. But look,” she gestured for Sans to look at her hands, “do these really look like they heal and create? No. They only injure and destroy.” She sighed and took another drink.

 

Sans looked at her. Really looked. He focused in on her soul. He had figured it out, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to see what was underneath the barrier she had created. The more she spoke, the more she drank, the barrier had stated to fall apart. He could only imagine how bad her soul looked if she felt the need to hide it.

“Hey, uh, Ava. Did you want to move to a different spot, for privacy?”

“Sure. Will he mind,” she gestured to the elemental Sans knew as Grillby.

“Nope, not at all.” A part of him didn't want to do it, but he wanted to find out what the barrier was hiding.

He needed to know.

 

 

_'Nobody needs to know' she always told herself. 'Nobody really cares anyway.'_

_'You'll hide it, like you hide the marks.'_

_'Nobody needs to know.'_


	8. Chapter 8: Losing My Religion

###  **Chapter 8: Losing My Religion**

 

“What happened to your Mom,” Sans had asked after they moved.

Ava played with the rim of her drink, “She died when I was a teenager. I, it's really hard to talk about, you know?”

“What was wrong with her,” he pressed. She shrugged. “C'mon, throw me a bone here.”

She ran a hand through her hair, “I don't know. The doctors never figured it out.”

“How old were you?”

“Seventeen.”

Sans was quiet. There was something more to the story, something he was missing. “I'm sorry.”

“Don't be. You weren't there, you never knew her, you didn't know-” she stopped herself. She finished her second glass and turned down an offer for a third.

“I didn't what?”

“Nothing. It's nothing.”

He could almost see it. The barrier she made was almost gone. The last few pieces were going to fade and he would see what she was hiding underne-

“I think. I think I'm going to head home.”

His smile drooped a little, “Do you want me to walk you there?”

She shook her head, “It's not too far. And I'm not drunk enough to do something stupid.”

“Like walking home alone at night when the entire town knows you as “Monster Fucker”,” Sans stated nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

“Point taken,” she laughed and stood up, “But if you insist, sure. Why not?”

Sans got up and waited by the door while Ava paid for her drinks. He held the door open for her as she walked out, leaving the warmth of the bar and entering the cold night. The two were silent as they walked to her apartment.

They reached her apartment, and a part of him was saddened that he had to leave her. She looked at him, her eyes pleading, “Please. Please tell me if anything changes with Papyrus. Please.”

“Of course, friend,” he answered.

He stood outside the building. He had been close. So, so close. He had seen a lot of the damage, but couldn't see the source of it. But he was, however, able to see the fading cyan threads that were trying to keep her soul together, threatening to break apart.

He had started to remember. He started to remember all that time in the void. All the time he was both on the surface, and not. When he could push his soul to the forest on Mt. Ebott, when he would find another soul, one that was brilliant, one that was beautiful, on that was, that was, broken. One that he tried to fix, that he needed, that he was pulled away from.

One that his own soul had bore the same threads of.

He was pulled from the void, and a part of him felt as if it was his fault there was nothing more done for the damage.

Then he heard the scream.

 

He was getting too close. He was getting too close for her to handle. She was glad he didn't get as far as she thought he would. She couldn't handle it. She couldn't handle being looked at like she was something too broken to even breath next to. She couldn't handle people walking on eggshells all the time because they thought she would break if you acted like a normal person around her. She wouldn't be able to handle anyone else leaving because of that. She couldn't handle people leaving her life. She couldn't handle that.

She was done with pity.

Ava opened the door to her building and waved him off. And he left. She walked up to the second floor of her building and unlocked her door. She walked right in, throwing her jacket onto her couch, and stepping into the bathroom. She looked at her soul; the pale, springtime yellow from her youth was long gone. And replaced with a dull, muted yellow. She could still see the cyan threads. Though they were faint and nearly impossible for anyone else to see, she still could.

 

“ _Healing,” her mother said, “takes many forms. Sometimes the healing doesn't appear to be physical.”_

“ _But if it's not physical,” she questioned, “then what is it? How will I know if I healed somebody?”_

_Her mother smiled brightly, even in sickness, her mother had a smile that could brighten the darkest of nights. “Sometimes, the only healing done is to the soul.” A monitor started to beep, “And on special occasions, the soul that did the healing will leave behind traces of its colour.”_

“ _Really,” she asked. Unaware of the increasing pace of the beeping_

_Her mother looked at her, fully aware of the bright cyan threads present on her daughter's soul, keeping together what she, her own mother, couldn't. She reached out for her daughter's hand, “And sometimes all it takes is the presence someone's soul.” The beeping grew faster. “But only if that person is really special. Only if that person was destined for you.”_

_The girl was crying fully aware of the heart monitor's frantic beeping, “Mom.”_

“ _I love you, my sweet Avangeline.” It flat-lined._

“ _Mom, please! Mom! Mom!” Doctors rushed in to try and save her mother. Nurses came in and quickly ushered her out of the room. She cried out to her mother one last time, her voice wavering, cracking, tears ran down her face._

_“MOM!”_

_“MOM, PLEASE!”_

 

She punched the mirror in front of her, the shattered glass tinkling to the floor. Her head hanging low, she gripped the counter until her knuckles turned white, The burning pain mixed with her overwhelming guilt. She hung her head low, blood and tears falling and splattering on the pieces of glass.

She screamed. She screamed in pain. She screamed in frustration.

She screamed in guilt.

Then there was a sharp knock on the door to her apartment. She stood still, unsure of what she should do. Her right hand was bleeding steadily.

The knock came again, louder this time. She quickly wrapped her hand in a towel, wiped her eyes, and answered the door, keeping her right hand shielded from view. The door was open and Sans slipped in. Ava quickly put her right hand out of view.

“What happened?” He asked looking at a slight trail of blood on the floor.

“Nothing. Nothing happened.” Sans looked at her with a blank expression. He didn’t believe that in the slightest. His look made her squirm a bit, “Really, Sans, there’s nothing to worry about.”

In a flash, Sans had grabbed her right hand, blood had already soaked through the towel, “Nothing, huh?” He started unwrapping the towel. “That’s a funny looking nothing.”

The towel was off, and Sans inspected the wound. "There's still glass in here." 

"Look," Ava started, "I know it may not seem like it, but I can fix myself." She tried pulling her hand away. But Sans held it tighter. She huffed, "Let go."

Sans looked from her hand to her face, "We have to get the glass out. It'll get infected." He pulled her into the kitchen and sat her down in a chair. "Where's your tweezers?" Ava pointed to the bathroom and he left. When he got back from the bathroom, he looked a little more annoyed. "Really? You punched the mirror? Couldn't you have, oh I don't know," he tossed the towel he brought back with him on the table, "punched the wall." He pulled a chair in front of her and sat down.

Ava giggled, and it was music to his ears. His smile grew a little wider as he grabbed her hand again. "This may hurt a little." He carefully pulled the smaller bits of glass out of the wound. She was still, unmoving as he pulled out the smaller, deeper pieces. When he finished, he carefully wrapped it with a small, clean towel he got from the bathroom. His hands lingered, and once he realized this, he blushed a light cyan colour. He let go and scratched the top of his cervical vertebrae. "I should, uh, get going. Toriel is expecting me back soon." He walked toward the door.

Ava smiled at him, "Thank you, Sans." He was almost out the door when she spoke again, "Maybe the next time I see you, I won't be an injured mess."

 

Ava couldn't see it, but Sans smiled even wider, "Yeah, maybe."


	9. Chapter 9: POWERLESS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been awhile. 
> 
> I lost the will to write anything for the longest time. I wasn't doing very well with my mental health, but I'm better now. And now I feel like I can try to write again. I know It's not as long, but I'm still trying to get back into the groove of things.
> 
> I really want to thank everyone for their patience. And I want to thank my friends for never giving up on me.
> 
> Formatting may be weird, I moved everything to Google Docs recently. So things might look weird, and if it gets too bad, I'll change it.

###  **Chapter 9: POWERLESS**

  
  


Sans sighed, it had been two days since he last saw Ava. He had thought about saying something about it to Toriel but decided against it. He had so many different thoughts revolving around his head. He had no clue how to fix his brother, who had recovered some, but not enough. He couldn’t convince himself that the soul from the mountain, the soul he failed, was Ava’s. He was unable to comprehend the feelings he had for Ava. He knew there was something there, but he didn’t know what it was.

So there he sat on a chair next to his brother, keeping an eye on his condition. It hurt him to see his brother like this. And it hurt him, even more, to think that if he had walked him home instead of staying at Alphy’s lab, he would have been okay. Toriel tried telling him over and over that, “It’s not your fault. No one could have expected this to happen. Don’t blame yourself.”

But he did blame himself, all the time. It was HIM that told Papyrus to go home. HE didn’t go with him. HE wasn’t able to stop the men that attacked them. It was HIS fault. And the guilt was eating him up inside, to the point where he was losing it. It was just like the soul on the mountain all over again to him. And he was powerless. He couldn’t do anything to save his brother. One of the people he needed most in his life was dying. And he couldn’t do anything.

He got up from the chair, gently patting Papyrus’ shoulder, and walked out of that room before he could cry. That was the one thing he didn’t want Papyrus to even think about, that his big brother cried. He nodded at Toriel as he walked out the front door, not knowing his destination.  


 

“Why couldn’t you just tell me?! Why wouldn’t you tell me what to do?!” Ava was crying. Two days had passed, and in those two days, she made a trip to her old home. A trip to visit her mother. She pressed her forehead on the cold marble. “I can’t do this anymore, mom. I don’t know what to do.” She knew she wasn’t going to get answers.

Her sobs had attracted the attention of people nearby, but they didn’t approach. They knew who she was. The whole town did. They knew what happened to her mother, what her father did to them both. 

Her father was never imprisoned for his crimes. He was never told off. He was left alone, never reprimanded. Even when Ava’s teachers saw the bruising, nobody spoke up about it. They let everything be. No one offered to help her when her mother died. No one took her from that terrible place. They left her there, in a home where she was beaten daily. 

Ava sobbed even harder, just thinking about being in this town made her hurt. And she sat in front of her mother’s grave for hours. It was dark when she had finally stopped crying and settled back down into her car. She sat at the wheel for a couple minutes before deciding to stay the night in the small town before heading back home in the morning.

At least, that was the plan.

Until she had received a text from an unknown number.

**_‘I would like to speak with you in private. May I meet you at your home?’_ **

**_‘This is Toriel, by the way.’_ **

Ava stared at her phone, shock consuming her ability to type out a reply in a fast enough fashion.

**_‘Would tomorrow afternoon work for you, my dear?’_ **

Ava shook her head and snapped back into reality, **_‘Yeah, that should work just fine.’_ ** It really wouldn’t, but if she drove through the night she would make it back in time to see Toriel.

**_‘Perfect, I will bring a pie! Do you prefer butterscotch or cinnamon?’_ **

Ava smiled to herself, **_‘I love them both. But you don’t need to go through all that trouble for me.’_ **

**_‘Nonsense. It will be my pleasure.’_ **

_**'I will be there at 2 P.M.'**_  

Ava decided to leave the conversation there. It was a six-hour drive from the small town to the city, with nothing but mountains and hills in between the two. If she left now, she would make it back home at four in the morning and have time to clean, and maybe even sleep before Toriel arrived.

Nodding to herself she took off, driving into the night.  
  


He always ended up at Grillby’s. He didn’t know how exactly, but that’s where he always was when he was feeling down. He sat on his stool and ordered his usual, all the while thinking of the time he had spent here with Ava. Her confessing that she had been frustrated about being given the cold shoulder, the two of them talking almost the whole night, learning about her and her mother, her walls breaking down, and the true colour of her soul. 

With all of that, It was no wonder why he couldn’t get her out of his head. He didn’t know how he should feel. He knew her from somewhere, and he knew where, but he didn’t want to admit it. All the time he spent in the void with that yellow soul, her soul, and then being ripped away from it, it killed him, in a way.

 

* * *

 

 

_It was dark. The only light was coming from himself, his soul. He hated it here. It was a place of existence, and not. A place of life. And a place of death. It was a place of terrifying loneliness. A place where he was everywhere at once, and nowhere at all. A place where only he existed._

_Then, he saw it. Off in the distance, a pale yellow glow._

_And then he heard the sobbing._

_He willed his body to the glow, to the soul. And what he saw had broken him._

_The soul was in shambles, it was a massive spider web of cracks and fissures. It was chipped in some places, and the colour was starting to dim almost completely._

_It was losing hope._

_He gently took the soul into his hands, and immediately heard the whispers._

_They spoke of doing terrible things to the soul, telling lies, telling it that death was the best option, then he heard the soul’s voice. It sounded as broken as it looked. It cried out for help, it begged them to stop._

_He hugged the soul to his own, and the whispers stopped, but the soul still sobbed. He kept holding in, even when it started to leave the void. As it winked out of the void he yelled after it._

_“Find me! Promise!”_

 

* * *

 

He sighed to himself in defeat. She did keep her promise, but does it count if she doesn’t know who he is?

_‘She did find me. But does she know?’_


	10. Chapter 10: Nightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much this whole chapter is full of abuse. Physical, mental, and implied sexual abuse. Please be careful when reading. All the stuff about abuse is in the Italics, as is usual with flashbacks, so if you can't read abuse, you can skip over the Italics. Be safe when reading.

###  **Chapter 10: Nightmare**

  
  
  


_ ‘Alright, everything is clean. And it’s now 1, Toriel will be here in an hour,’ _ Ava thought to herself. She decided to forgo any sleep for the day, considering she was doing okay. She ransacked her own cupboards for any tea and set her kettle on the stovetop. Letting the water boil slowly, she rechecked the state of her apartment.

She had to keep reminding herself that everything was fine. But she checked again and again anyway. There was a soft knock at her door, and she checked the time.  _ She’s a bit early,' _ she thought as she walked to the door and opened it.

Toriel stood in the doorway with a dish covered with foil and a small child behind her leg. Ava smiled widely and stepped aside so Toriel could step inside. “I hope you do not mind that I brought young Frisk with me. I did not wish to leave him home alone today.”

“No not at all,” Ava laughed and ducked down to Frisk’s height, “I’m Ava.” She stuck out her hand and Frisk took it and shook her hand slowly before running back to Toriel.

The kettle started to whistle and Ava took it off the burner and grabbed an extra mug for Frisk. “The only tea I have is Ginger, is that alright?”

“That sounds perfect to me, and Frisk thinks so too.”

Ava finished getting the tea prepped, got the jar of honey, and proceeded to carry everything to her kitchen table. She gave the larger mugs to herself and Toriel while giving Frisk the smaller one. Toriel had already the liberty of putting the pie on plates and getting forks for the three of them.

They chatted idly for a while, but then the conversation turned more serious.

“Frisk, my child, would you go play in the other room for a while? It’s time for the adults to be rather boring.” Frisk nodded and ran off. 

Toriel turned back to Ava and smiled, “I heard you have an interesting ability, my child.” She turned to look at Frisk, who had managed to get his hands on a colouring book and started scribbling away, “They do too. But it’s not as complex as yours. They can see souls without even trying, but you,” She looked at Ava’s soul, “there is a lot more to you than I realized.”

Ava listened to her silence. She didn’t want to speak, for the fear of sidetracking Toriel was too great for her too,

“What is your full name?”

“Avangeline Wells.”

Toriel gave a thoughtful hum. “I’m older than a lot of people would believe, you know. I know a lot of old human families, families that were gifted with abilities like yours. Families that both helped the monsters, and sealed them away. But the name Wells doesn’t ring any bells. What was your mother’s name?”

Ava was confused, monsters had been trapped underground for centuries. This was the same queen? Right in front of her? From 200 years ago? She shook her head slightly, “My mom’s name was Trisha Summerset. After my great-great-grandmother.”

Toriel smiled brightly, “That’s a name I remember. The Summersets were always good to monsterkind. They were a kind and caring group, it’s good to see that’s never changed. And I knew Trisha, your grandmother, she was just a child, but she was the sweetest little thing. Loved singing and making people happy. That was her power, Ava, making joy when there was none.”

Ava had never heard much of her mom’s side of the family, her father forbid any stories from being told, and from her mom’s parents, or anyone from that side, even sending Christmas cards. “I didn’t know that.”

It was Toriel’s turn to be startled, “Really? Why is that?”

“My father,” she had to stop herself from cringing at her use of the word, “never allowed my mom to tell those stories.”

“So you know nothing of your family. Or even your namesake?”

“No.”

Toriel looked at her, a sadness crossed her features, “What did he do to you?” Ava realized immediately what the goat woman was talking about.

Her soul.

Toriel could see it.

Ava’s eyes unfocused, and she began staring off into the distance, a thousand different memories flashed in her mind. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, and Toriel grabbed her hand in a vaguely comforting way that reminded her of her mother.

“You do not have to tell-”

“I was never meant to happen. To him, I was a mistake…”

  
  


* * *

 

 

_ She had just gotten home from her first day of school, the kids made fun of her for the black eye she was given by her father. So, naturally, she came home in tears. And her father hated it. When he saw her crying, he grabbed roughly by the throat and pinned her to the wall. He started screaming at her, but she wasn’t really listening. She learned the hard way to just keep nodding her head and apologizing. _

_ When he finished, he threw her onto the floor and told her to get out of his sight. She just nodded and went to her room. There she cried silently until her mother walked in. She sat on the bed with her, held her, and told her it would be okay. Then, her mother took her to the  _

_ garden in their backyard. _

_ It was there that Ava got to see the magic. She would watch as plants that weren’t looking too healthy were brought back to full health. All because her mother had touched and sung to them. Ava always giggled when she saw the flowers go from wilting to standing upright and fully bloomed. _

_ But they could never stay in the garden. Her father would always come out and demand that they come back inside. And when they did, they were beaten. Her mother was always thrown into the kitchen to make dinner. While her father would continue to berate Trisha, Ava would try her best to remain unseen and unheard. The fear of getting beaten more always kept her quiet at home. _

_ She passed the time by drawing. Her father looked at her drawing and tell her to quit while she could, or she wasn’t doing good enough. She never did stop though, her mother would never let her quit because of her father. _

_ That never stopped him though. _

_ Years had passed, slowly, but passed nonetheless. Ava was older, “More mature” as her father would say. She always saw him glancing at her in a predatory way. It scared her more than anything. She woke up one night, searing pain between her legs, her father grunting and groaning, saying that this was all she was good for.  _

_ She started to lock her door. _

_ And he started to beat her mother harder. _

_ They were sent to the ER so many times, but the town did nothing about it. “Mistakes don’t deserve help,” he’d hiss at her when she’d scream for help in the middle of the night. _

_ Soon the mountain became her only comfort. The soul on the mountain was soon the only thing that made her feel happy, not even her mother’s singing could help her. _

_ Then it happened. Her father had come home one night. He’d been drinking, he never drank, but he was drunk. He started fighting with Trisha, and it escalated even farther than normal. Then, without a second thought, he shot her in the stomach. The doctors were called, and Ava never left the hospital. She was always there, it was only days until she died. _

_ The funeral was quiet, none of her mother’s family came, they weren’t invited. _

_ Her father was never charged with the murder. _

_ The soul on the mountain disappeared. _

 

_ She ran away. _

  
  


* * *

 

 

The tears were flowing freely, and all Toriel could do was sit and hold her. Ava felt something attach itself to her leg, she looked down and saw Frisk, crying. Ava put a hand on their face, “I’ll be okay, I promise. Could you go sit back in the living room? I’ll be okay.”

Frisk sniffed and shook their head, still clinging to her leg. Toriel spoke gently to Frisk, requesting that they let the two of them finish their conversation. Frisk sniffed again, this time nodding and rubbing their eyes as they walked away.

“What your mother said, before she died, she was right, you know. You may think all you do is destroy and hurt, but that’s not what you could do. Come with me, I want to test something.” She started toward the door, “Come, Frisk, I think Ava should see Papyrus for herself, don’t you?”

Frisk nodded and struggled to tie his shoes. Ava knelt down to the ground and tied them to him once her own shoes were on. Toriel giggled at the sight of the two of them. “Just like an older sister,” she hummed. 

  
  
  


Sans sat next to Papyrus, he hadn’t moved for the entire day. All he could do was look on in sadness. The wounds were not healing right, and Papyrus still wasn’t awake. Sans started to doze off. He was half asleep when he heard voices, but too lazy to open his eyes and get up. He soon recognized the voices as Toriel’s and…

Ava’s?

“He’s in this room here. And-Oh!- Sans is sleeping, the poor thing, never leaves his brother’s side.”

He felt a blanket being placed over the top of him and shuffling around the room.

“What if this doesn’t work and I end up hurting him more than helping him?” Ava was nervous about something, and Sans soon realized why.  _ “These hands were made for healing honey,’ she told me all the time. But look, all I do is hurt and destroy.’ _

“It will be alright Ava. Just do what you think needs to be done. Follow your heart,” Toriel encouraged her. There was a long silence, and Sans finally opened his eyes a little. He saw Ava shaking next to Papyrus.

Toriel spoke to her softly again, “I believe in you, my child, you can do it.”

Ava released a breath that she looked to be holding for an eternity.Her eyes shut, and the room started to glow orange, and then yellow soon joined it.

Ava opened her eyes again and reached her hands towards Papyrus’ soul.


	11. Chapter 11: Lifelines

###  **Chapter 11: Lifelines**

  
  


Ava raised a shaky hand toward the orange soul. She reached for it gently, doing just as Toriell told her to do,  _ ‘Follow my heart, huh? Well, my heart’s telling me that it’s afraid.’ _ The soul floated gently into her outstretched hands.  _ ‘Oh god. What if I break him? What if I… What if I accidentally kill him. Oh god. What would they do to me? What would they think of me? They’d think I was a lier, and that did this on purpose.’ _

Toriel sensed her apprehension, and she laid a gentle hand on Ava’s shoulder, “My child, there is no need to feel the fear you do. I believe in you and your power. Go on. What does your soul say to do?”

Ava swallowed hard, she shut her eyes tight and wrapped her arms around the soul in a protective embrace, right against her own soul. 

She was immediately greeted by searing pain running through every inch of her body. It took every ounce of willpower she had not to scream out in pain. She opened her eyes again to see. But all she was able to see was the blinding light of their souls. Her grip on Papyrus’ soul tightened, And she kept going despite all the pain.

There was a small gasp from Sans, the cracks in Papyrus’ soul had started to heal over, and were being kept together by yellow threads. In what had seemed like an eternity to Sans, was actually only a couple of minutes, Ava released Papyrus’ soul.

Papyrus started to move.

And Ava started to fall.

  
  
  


That was the fastest anyone in the room had seen a sleeping Sans move. She didn’t even have a chance to hit the ground before Sans was there and had her in his arms. He looked down at Ava, fear in his eyes, he quickly checked her pulse. He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

 

‘Bum……….. Badum……...’

 

He felt it, but it was faint. He heaved a huge sigh of relief, “Tori, What happened? Is Papyrus okay? Is she gonna be okay?”

Toriel gave a small smile toward Papyrus, who now appeared to just be sleeping. She turned and Gave Sans a gentle smile, “She just needs rest, Sans. She’ll be good as new in the morning. Papyrus too. I believe we owe her quite a lot.”

Sans looked at her, at her soul, he noticed there were a few new cracks and chips, seemingly identical to the ones Papyrus had. He hoped Toriel noticed because if this was the price she paid to help Papyrus, they owed her more than a lot. 

He looked over at Papyrus’ soul. Everything, every crack, every chip, everything was gone. Not even scars were left behind. There was no trace of Ava’s soul in the cracks and chips.  _ ‘Yeah. A lot more than a lot.’ _

They would owe her everything.

Sans picked her up off the floor, gently shifting her into a bridal position in his arms, “I’ll take her home.”

“Yes,” Toriel nodded, looking worriedly at Ava, “that’s probably for the best. You should stay with her too, make sure she awakens in the morning. I’ll take care of Papyrus, and tell him everything that happened.” She nodded more to herself than anything. 

“Oh! Frisk,” the small child looked up at Toriel, but not quite looking at her face, they were looking at where her soul was, “you have homework to do, do you not?”

Frisk’s shoulders sagged, he slouched as he walked out of the room. Toriel sighed and gave Sans the okay to leave.

It was like someone had made a rip in the fabric of reality. Except the rip wasn’t jagged, it was smooth, clean, and looked like it had been practised many times before. On Sans’ side of the hole, there was just him and Ava. But on the other side, it was Ava’s living room. Sans stepped through, and it immediately disappeared from existence.

Once inside of Ava’s apartment, Sans sighed, holding onto Ava tighter. He took her to her bedroom and laid her on the bed, covering her with blankets as he did. Only when he was certain she was comfortable, did he look around the room and rest of the apartment. Her room, for the most part, was bare. The only furniture in here was a queen size bed, a pathetic looking nightstand, and a beat-up dresser. On top of the dresser was a picture of someone who looked a lot like Ava, but obviously wasn’t. She looked older, and her nose was straight.  _ ‘Must be her mom,’ _ he thought. He left the room, leaving the door open a little.  _ ‘Just in case,’ _ he thought.

The hall leading to Ava’s room, the bedroom, and the guest bedroom was completely bare. There was a closet that had towels and a stacked washer and dryer, but that was it. The bathroom had a bit of a blue theme to it, and the mirror and glass shards had been removed. There was a clock on the wall by the bathroom door. It was plain and reminded Sans of Frisk’s classroom.

The guest bedroom, or the “Storage Room” as Ava put it, was reasonably empty. A full-size bed sat in the middle, There was a bookshelf in the corner devoted to gardening, fantasy novels, and various fighting styles meticulously organized alphabetically by author, then numerically by publication date.The only exception to this was the four leather-bound binders Sans had originally thought were full of family photos. He wanted to look at them but put it off for later.

The kitchen was simple, there weren’t any fancy or high tech gadgets. But there were six different cutting boards, all varying in type, and nice sets of pots and pans hanging from a rack coming down from the ceiling directly over the island in the middle. There was a large shelf on the wall by the stove full of spices, all organized alphabetically, and a circular table off to the side with four chairs. On the counter was what he assumed to be a butterscotch cinnamon pie made by Toriel.

The living room was in direct view of the kitchen and was just as bare as the rest of the apartment. A small tv sat in the centre of the wall on a small stand, and an old looking three seat couch was on the opposite wall. On the wall, nearest to the door was a few more bookshelves that held more fantasy novels, a few mystery books, and a lot of history books on both monsters, magic, and humanity. All were organized in the same meticulous way as the shelf in the guest room.

Satisfied with his investigation, he sauntered off into the hallway, stopping just short of the guest bedroom when he heard something coming from Ava’s bedroom. He tilted his head slightly to the right and started walking to her room. He paused for a moment when he was right outside her door,  _ ‘Is she, crying? I coulda swore she was sleeping.’ _

He pushed her door open, she was sleeping, but it didn’t look very restful. She was almost sobbing in her sleep clutching at her chest right where her soul would be. Sans’ face fell, and he walked into the room. He stood next to the bed and was about to wake her when he heard a pained sob escape her throat.

So he instead of waking her, he did the thing that most normal people would do.

He sat on the bed in the empty space next to her, and pulled her into his chest, carefully, as to not wake her.

He held her, shushed her, and constantly rubbed a skeletal hand through her hair. In her sleep, she managed to grip his jacket so tight, that when she fell silent, he couldn’t get her to let go. Sans took this as a sign.

He turned on his side, facing Ava, wrapped his arms around her small frame, and fell asleep, the cinnamon scent of her skin filling his mind and dreams. 


	12. Chapter 12: Honeybee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have some more sad fluff for you all today.

###  **Chapter 12: Honeybee**

  
  
  


Ava woke up once in the middle of the night, with heavy arms wrapped tightly around her and a soreness in her hands. Still in a daze, she released her apparent grip on whoever she was holding. She looked around, not seeing her surroundings clearly, but surprisingly able to see the bright cyan glow of the soul next to her.

She wanted to remove herself from the arms around her waist, but she couldn’t bring herself to that. In the embrace, she felt warm, comfortable… 

Loved.

She kept staring at the soul in front of her, the colour was very similar.  _ ‘The mountain? But he’s gone?’ _ She reached out to the soul, to touch it. To see if it was true. To see if it was the one from Mt. Ebott.

The one from the Void.

She stopped herself just short of touching it. She broke down, sobs wracking her body again,  _ ‘No. He’s gone. It’s not him. It can’t be. He’s gone. He’s gone.’  _ The arms wrapped themselves tighter around her. And she cried harder than she had in a long time. Curling into the warm embrace.

 

Sans woke up once more once Ava started sobbing again. He tightened his hold, tucking her head under his chin. He laid there with her, for the longest amount of time, listen to her cry, ‘He’s gone,’ over and over. It broke his heart. Because he knew.

Why wouldn’t he?

It was him she was calling out to. 

But she was too hurt to believe it was him.

He looked at her soul, it had gotten so dim. It used to be so bright, so brilliant. But now it wasn’t. It was dull, dingy, broken, threatening to shatter. And the cyan threads working so hard to keep it together were gone completely. It hurt him to think that he was the one thing that was keeping her together all these years. It killed him to know that she firmly believed that he wasn’t the one with her right now.

He sighed a little and pushed his soul into her hands.

 

She saw the soul move forward a little way and with it came a voice, “It’s me. I’m right here. I won’t leave you again.”

 

“I Promise.”

 

She reached out to touch his soul, and was immediately overwhelmed with love, and sadness? The soul showed itself in the place where she found herself all those years ago. It showed her all the other times that they had managed to find each other in the complete blackness. It showed her the yellow threads it bore from the void. It showed her the love that it felt. She sucked in a shocked breath as she felt it, all the love it felt for her. But it was all laced with a slight sadness, but she couldn’t find the source in time. The soul started back toward its owner.

An arm started stroking her back in gentle, soothing circles, “I’m right here Ava.”

“Please don’t leave me. Please. Please don’t,” her pleas turned into broken sobs.

“I told you already. I’m not leaving. Never again. I promise.”

“And I always keep my promises.”

He kept stroking her back. And, eventually, another hand started combing through her hair and massaging her scalp. He didn’t make any motions of stopping, even when her sobs had turned into pathetic hiccups, and the hiccups turned into ragged breathing. As soon as she curled into his chest, breathing slow, and sleeping once more, he stopped his ministrations. And held onto her tighter.

  
  


Sans sighed as he woke up before Ava did. He didn’t get much sleep that night, but it was alright. He just wanted to make sure Ava fell asleep and didn’t wake up again. He smiled down at her sleepily and started to untangle himself from her. He didn’t want to, but he feared the backlash from her if she woke up and found him next to her.

He pulled himself out of the bed and went into the kitchen to make breakfast for the two of them.

And by making breakfast, he meant warm up some of Toriel’s pie.

But then he passed by the guest bedroom again. And the thought of looking in the leather-bound binders seemed so appealing to him. 

So that’s what he did.

He pulled the first one from the shelf and looked at the inside cover, guilt suddenly overtaking him. There was a letter inside. He felt as though he wasn’t supposed to see it, but he read it anyway.

_ ‘My dearest Granddaughter, _

_ I know we’ve never met. And I feel as if we will never do so. But I want you to know that, while it may not seem like it, we do all care for you. And I respect your decisions to cut all ties with both sides of your family, but I still want you to have these. There’s a lot you don’t know about the Summersets, and I had hoped your mother would’ve been able to tell you, but sadly she wasn’t. _

_ I thought you might want to have these books. There’s four of them in total, just in case they don’t all get to you. This one is full of photos of you, your mother, and the rest of this family. The others should help explain everything to you. _

_ I really do hope you’ll change your mind. _

_ Call me, if you want to talk about everything. Please. _

_ With love, _

_ Grandma Summerset’ _

“I see you found them.”

Sans jumped out of his trance, a blue blush rushing to his cheekbones. “I didn’t… I just… I. I’m. I’m sorry.”

Ava shook her head gently and reached a hand out for the binder. Sans hung his head and gave it to her. Taking it gently out of his bony hands, she put it back on the shelf. She walked out of the room, motioning for him to follow.

Ava checked her phone as she walked into the kitchen, furrowing her brow when she didn’t see a text from Andy about her schedule for the week. She put it in the pocket of her jeans and pulled a pan from the hanging rack. She grabbed eggs, bacon, a few slices of bread, and various spices.

“Do you need me to help you?”

She counted out 7 eggs, kept three and handed the rest to Sans, “Could you scramble these for me?”

He took the eggs, “I’m not too eggcellent at cooking,” Ava gave a small chuckle and he smiled, “but this I can do. Bowl and whisk?”

“Bowl up there, whisk in that drawer,” Ava pointed in varying directions. She grabbed a dish from a different cupboard and cracked the three eggs in there. She sprinkled in some cinnamon, nutmeg, and a pinch of salt. Sans watched in confusion as she dipped the bread into the egg mixture and put it in the pan to cook.

He shook his head and went to scrambling the eggs.  _ ‘Eggs are about as scrambled as my thoughts.’ _

A half-hour later breakfast was made and divided between the two. They ate in an awkward, almost uncomfortable, silence. Once they were both finished Ava took the plates to the kitchen sink, rinsed them, and placed them in a dishwasher that Sans hadn’t even noticed. Sans didn’t move from the table when she went to the guest room. He was pretty surprised when she brought out the binders. 

She placed them on the table between the two of them. And sat down across from Sans. She let out a long shaky breath, “I suppose you have questions?”

“Just a few,” Sans was rubbing the back of his neck, “I am sorry for snooping, though. I didn’t mean anything by it.” 

“I haven’t looked through these. I read that letter and I felt so angry that I didn’t even want to.” She inhaled deeply. She took a moment to figure out what she was going to say, “I, I got this package in the mail one day…”


End file.
